Did you know that Ireland is actually the homeland of Halloween? So what better place for a brand new festival to celebrate the scariest time of year than Ireland’s Ancient East.
Steeped in ancient tradition and taking place in counties Meath and Louth, the all-new Púca festival will run from 31 October until 2 November.
Púca will be a festival focused around music, light shows, rich harvest-inspired food experiences, folklore and fun.
Festival-goers should watch out or the playful púca (ghosts, spirits or shapeshifters) coming alive and get up to mischief in the streets.
The main locations for festival events are the towns of Athboy and Trim, County Meath and Drogheda in County Louth.
Athboy is known as the location of the first Samhain (summer’s end) festival, and the locals annually light the sacred Samhain flame on the historic Hill of Ward.
Trim is home to the largest Anglo-Norman castle in Ireland, while Drogheda is one of the oldest towns on the island.
The three towns sit in the historically and archaeologically significant Boyne Valley, a key location in Ireland’s Ancient East, where a multitude of ageless sites tell the story of a fascinating historical and mythical past.
Halloween originates in the ancient Irish and Celtic tradition of Samhain, which is the old Irish for ‘summer’s end’. Samhain marks the end of the old Celtic Year and the beginning of the New Year.
The Celts believed that this was a time of transition when the veil between our world and the next came down, and the spirits of all who had died since the last Oíche Shamhna (Night of Samhain) moved on to the next life.
Full details of the event will be posted here as they come to hand.
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